This book is reminiscent of other Spiritual Formation books I love written by authors such as Foster and Barton. the chapters were easy to read and digest, but still had a great deal of depth. I appreciated how the chapters ended with soul searching questions which were designed to make you really digest the presented materials and apply them to your own life. It would be easy to read this book walk away basically unchanged. But if you take the time to work through the questions, the book has the potential to change how you utilize and live out spiritual formation practices.

Rhythms for Life by Alastair Sterne is an honest account from a current pastor and his teachings on how to declutter your current unproductive spiritual practices or lack thereof. He shares lessons he's learned from his ministry, and in such a way that's very vulnerable and raw as well as added a depth to the lifestyle examples and Biblical instruction.

Each chapter begins with a Bible verse, quote, personal story, and intro. The chapters have labelled subsections that are easy to follow. And each concludes with "homework" and things to reflect on. I appreciated aspects where he talks about how different personalities face unique challenges to achieve the same Christian goals. It's so often portrayed, intentionally or not, that there is a certain way to do personal devotions or read your Bible. Sterne touches on this and describes how that's not the case, and gives examples on what these look like in real life for real people.

It's a good book and very helpful, but I wish it was shorter. It's meant to be read one chapter at a time and ideally, with a group. I read it on my own, but I usually took two days per chapter--not including the "homework."

Thank you NetGalley and InterVarsityPress for an ecopy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I continue to be blown away by the practical, relevant, and Gospel centered books from IVP!

In “Rhythms for Life”, Alastair Sterne sets out to help the reader develop a plan for growing in Christlikeness. Based in the fifth century, monastic tradition, he defines the rule of life as identifying “habits, disciplines and practices to keep you moving in the direction of Jesus with your community.” He draws on his experience of being a pastor as well as his own journey in the creation of this guidebook.

Part One, discerning who God has made you to be, covers identity, gifts, talents, personality, values, roles and vocation. It unpacks the meaning and differences amongst them and includes exercises to clarify each for the reader. Having explored so many different tools to analyse who I am, I didn’t discover much to surprise me here but Alistair recommends the tools I found most useful and I was reassured in my understanding of myself.

Part Two, rhythms for living your vocation looks at how to create practices that keep you moving in four key directions: upward to God, inward to self, withward in community, outward in mission. I appreciated Alistair’s call to not overcommit when taking on new practices. Again, I have spent a lot of time seeking practices that align with this approach so didn’t find much I hadn’t tried but I did enjoy how different people but them together to create a rhythm for their life and the impact it’s made

“James K. A. Smith writes, “The orientation of the heart happens from the bottom up, through the formation of our habits of desire. Learning to love (God) takes practice.” Although our vision fuels our intentionality and discipline, our intentional practices shape our vision and heart for God from the bottom up.”

From “Rhythms for Life” by Alastair Sterne
Whilst the back cover highlights the key takeaways, it’s the nuanced approach and empathetic writing I enjoyed most. Alistair is easy to relate to and understand. He comprehends the complex issues we face in everyday life and the pressures we endure. He bravely shares his personal difficulties and what does and doesn’t work for him and I so appreciate his honesty.

“Wesley Hill describes it this way: “When I cannot feel God’s love for me in my struggle, to have a friend grab my should and say ‘I love you, and I’m in this with you for the long haul’ is, in some ways, an incarnation of God’s love that I would otherwise have trouble resting in.” Such friendships require sacrifice, grit, long suffering, and grace upon grace.”

From “Rhythms for Life” by Alastair Sterne
I thoroughly enjoyed this one and, if you are looking for a vocation guide or to clarify your purpose, this is for you. It is also a great guide on creating a good rhythm for yourself. It’s a five out of five on the enJOYment scale.

Great overview. Tons of very easy to understand and apply information. I love how it’s divided into inward, outward, upward, with ward. It makes it much easier to understand and separate each practice. It also shows the need to practice in each way (in, out, up, with) for a balanced life rhythm. I love how this is a spring board towards more in-depth study. It introduces the reader and gives them a taste of each rhythm. Then they can go and dive deeper at their own pace. I love the practicality of sharing his rhythms as well as another persons rhythm. Love the inclusion of the persons vocation/life stage too. Helps me get a good picture of what each might look like for me. Great book. Easy to read. A lot of personal stories make this book really relatable and encouraging.
I received a digital copy of this book from netgalley. I was in no way required to write a positive review. All thoughts are my own.

I really liked this book; it was well written, accessible and had lots of practical ways to engage with the themes presented.

Rhythms for Life
Spiritual Practices for Who God Made You to Be
by Alastair Sterne
InterVarsity Press
IVP
Christian | Religion & Spirituality
Pub Date 29 Sep 2020



I am reviewing a copy of Rhythms for Life through InterVarsity Press and Netgalley:


In Rhythms for Life Alastair Sterne reminds us that being a Christian as a transformative journey. If we follow Jesus, we become like him, which is traditionally called Christlikeness.




What is Christlikeness, Christlikeness is your reflection of Jesus. You become present to the presence of Jesus in every area of your life. And you contribute to the reflection of his character within the life of your community.




We are reminded too that many stories guide our lives But often our stories are misguided. We can find ourselves in undesirable storylines and plot twists. Before we can untangle ourselves from misguided stories, we need to name them—and identify their authors.




We are reminded too that often our talents and skills are vessels for expressing our gifts and sometimes our spiritual gifts so closely align with our talents that it’s hard to tell them apart.





There are times that God will challenge us, and stretch us. We are reminded too that we can’t ignore the role of our personality in our call to follow Jesus. The author goes on to point out that Everyone has values. But what exactly are they? Here are a few ways different people define values.





It is pointed out too that when we know how our roles reveal part of God’s character, we can discover a new set of expectations, behaviors, and values. And as we do this, the way we relate to others in our roles begins to reflect the kingdom of God.



We are reminded too that roles are good gifts from God. They matter and are important in our self-understanding and our relationship with God.







The vision God’s for our lives as Christians is that we have purpose and hope grounded in him that goes deeper than even our most important roles.






I am reviewing a copy of Rhythms for Life five out of five stars!




Happy Reading!

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and its unique focus on creating rhythms for life based on your vocation and actual life. It was highly practical, very vulnerable and provided lots of space for personal reflection. I have read many books on the spiritual disciplines and life rhythms, but this one was unique in the way it provided tangible examples, split the rhythms into daily, weekly and seasonal practices, and rooted them very deeply in an understanding of one's own life, vocation and season. Highly recommend!

Rhythms for Life by Alastair Sterne is a book that is intended to guide believers and followers of Christ to create their own “Rhythm for Life”, which is meant to promote growth and transformation into Christlikeness as God has intended for every person individually. These rhythms encompass practices that deal with four distinct areas of life: upward to God, inward to self, withward in community and outward in mission.

Part 1 of this book first delves into a very detailed analysis of who God has made each of us individually. These chapters help the reader self-reflect on their identity, spiritual gifts and talents, personality, values and virtues and roles in life. Part 2 then deals with crafting individual rhythms in the four directions (up, in, with and out), taking into account the believer’s individuality. Each chapter is constructed in such a way that the first part is mostly text meant to explain or instruct about the topic at hand, while the last pages of each chapter contain questions for the readers to answer, space for personal thoughts and prayers and worksheets intended for the reader to personally construct their own practices and rhythms.

What I really love about this book is just how personalized and individualized these rhythms for life are. Too many Christian books and articles that I have previously encountered on the topic of Christlikeness mostly rattle off a list of verbs and adjectives that are meant to be valued and grow as fruit in every believer’s life. While theologically sound, these are mainly stated without much thought as to how these are going to look like for each person individually. I very strongly agree with Sterne’s belief that Christlikeness will shine differently through each believer, with no two looking exactly identical. Rhythms for Life very strongly respects the individuality of each believer in Christ, while also staying biblically true concerning certain traits that God wants for all believers (e.g. love).

“There is no generic template for growing in Christlikeness. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Who you are matters” (p. 6).

My favorite chapters were definitely the ones found in Part 1, dealing with who God has made me to be. I very much enjoyed the self-discovery that I encountered while reflecting on my own spiritual gifts, personality and virtues. I was actually very surprised to learn that many of my own personality traits, skills, gifts, talents and virtues which until now I had always considered quite mundane are actually special gifts of God, spiritual gifts or ways in which Christlikeness is shown through me. This book has definitely opened my eyes to just how much God has already worked in my life and how much I have been gifted. It has helped me see that every believer has been blessed, touched and gifted by the Holy Spirit and how just a certain mindfulness of these gifts can lead one to see just how valuable each member of the Body of Christ is to the Kingdom of God. Rhythms for Life also very strongly dispels the idea that only certain roles or callings (such as those of evangelical mission and vocation) are more “spiritual” or important to God. Sterne makes a great point in showing that most spiritual work and vocations are actually done right under our nose in our everyday life.

The rhythms found in Part 2 were also very straightforward to me and present twelve practices in total that are meant to help the reader construct these four distinct rhythms for themselves. I thought that each chapter did an excellent job at explaining and giving examples for each of the four rhythms and the corresponding practices, that I actually felt quite inspired to try and think for myself how I could integrate these new rhythms into my own life.

Other smaller things that I really appreciated about Sterne’s book were the very positive messages surrounding mental health. Sterne strongly encourages readers with any kind of mental health challenges to visit a counselor, which I found very refreshing to read as a Christian. I very strongly believe that the scientific practices of psychologists and counselors should be seen as a necessary guidance for these kinds of struggles, alongside spiritual practices and God’s guidance, which is why I really liked that Sterne also touched on that.
Something I also appreciated as an egalitarian Christian myself was that none of the rhythms or practices were gender-specific or bound to any “gender roles”. Every reader, whether they are female or male, are very much encouraged by this book to seek out for themselves how to reflect Christlikeness, what their roles or vocations or callings are, independent of their gender.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed and felt strongly influenced by the Spirit by Rhythms for Life in pursuing Christlikeness and a rhythm for my own life. This is definitely a book that I can see myself coming back to again and again in times of spiritual recalibrations in my walk with Christ. In fact, I’ve already preordered two copies (one for me and my mom) which I look forward to being able to physically write in when September comes around. I would also strongly encourage any believer to pick up this book who maybe doesn’t quite know how God has been working in their lives, or how they individually contribute to the Kingdom. Rhythms for Life will definitely encourage, enlighten, as well as challenge any Christian in their walk in both normal everyday life, as well as their walk in Christ.